Brooks and Zoeller Targeting Human Trafficking

Federal and state officials are taking aim at human trafficking in Indiana.

U.S. Congresswoman Susan Brooks says Congress has strengthened efforts against "modern day slavery." Brooks says measures include tougher targeting of human traffickers. Brooks and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller took part in a roundtable discussion of the Indiana Protection for Abused and Trafficked Humans Task Force at the Indiana Government Center South Monday. The task force was established during Brooks' term as U.S. Attorney in Indianapolis.

Brooks and Zoeller say young women and girls continue to be forced into lives of prostitution and drugs. Zoeller says they often begin as young runaways, get picked up by drug dealers and human traffickers and sold into lives of prostitution. Zoeller says they only become prostitutes in the law's eyes when they turn 18 years of age. He says most of them are traumatized in their youth and remain vulnerable and victimized for much of their lives. Brooks says it's a worldwide issue that continues to be the focus of work in Congress.